Ecclésiaste 1

¹ Words of a preacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem :

² Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher, Vanity of vanities : the whole [is] vanity.

³ What advantage [is] to man by all his labour that he laboureth at under the sun ?

⁴ A generation is going, and a generation is coming, and the earth to the age is standing.

⁵ Also, the sun hath risen, and the sun hath gone in, and unto its place panting it is rising there.

⁶ Going unto the south, and turning round unto the north, turning round, turning round, the wind is going, and by its circuits the wind hath returned.

⁷ All the streams are going unto the sea, and the sea is not full ; unto a place whither the streams are going, thither they are turning back to go.

⁸ All these things are wearying ; a man is not able to speak, the eye is not satisfied by seeing, nor filled is the ear from hearing.

⁹ What [is] that which hath been ? it [is] that which is, and what [is] that which hath been done ? it [is] that which is done, and there is not an entirely new thing under the sun.

¹⁰ There is a thing of which [one] saith : 'See this, it [is] new !' already it hath been in the ages that were before us !

¹¹ There is not a remembrance of former [generations] ; and also of the latter that are, there is no remembrance of them with those that are at the last.

¹² I, a preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

¹³ And I have given my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that hath been done under the heavens. It [is] a sad travail God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.

¹⁴ I have seen all the works that have been done under the sun, and lo, the whole [is] vanity and vexation of spirit !

¹⁵ A crooked thing [one] is not able to make straight, and a lacking thing is not able to be numbered.

¹⁶ I — I spake with my heart, saying, 'I, lo, I have magnified and added wisdom above every one who hath been before me at Jerusalem, and my heart hath seen abundantly wisdom and knowledge.

¹⁷ And I give my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly : I have known that even this [is] vexation of spirit ;

¹⁸ for, in abundance of wisdom [is] abundance of sadness, and he who addeth knowledge addeth pain.'